Problem
The best foundations of all art the kinds of foundations which a tree has—where the entire structure of a tree simply continues below ground level, and creates a system entirely integral with the ground, in tension and compression.
Solution
Try to find a way of making foundations in which the columns themselves go right into the earth, and spread out there—so that the footing is continuous with the material of the column, and the column, with its footing, like a tree root, can resist tension and horizontal shear as well as compression.
Related Patterns
… once you have a rough column plan for the building - Columns at the Corners (212), Final Column Distribution (213) - you are ready to start the site work itself. First, stake out the positions of the ground floor columns, before you do any other earthwork, so that you can move the columns whenever necessary to leave rocks or plants intact - Site Repair (104), Connection to the Earth (168). Then dig the foundation pits and prepare to make the foundations.
To make foundations like this for hollow concrete, filled box columns, start with a pit for each foundation, place the hollow column in the pit, and pour the column and the foundation integrally, in one continuous pour - Box Columns (216). Later, when you build the ground floor slab, tie the concrete into the foundations - Ground Floor Slab (215) …
Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 1006.